EVs and certain other zero-emission vehicles that run on hydrogen fuel cells and compressed natural gas are already eligible to drive in carpool lanes even when they only have one passenger, as long as they get a special sticker from the state. The program used to be even bigger, including hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius, but after successfully encouraging mass adoption of hybrids, that part of program expired. Now the state legislature is focused on encouraging consumers to buy even lower-emission cars.

Assembly Bill 2405, authored by Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield from Los Angeles, would allow every car that currently qualifies for carpool lanes to also avoid tolls. In some cases, the roads are both carpool and toll lanes, and in others, roads that are purely toll lanes would be affected. Critics in the government have argued that EV drivers should have to pay tolls, because the tolls are an important part of paying for some new roads.

Some have also argued that letting a single EV driver ride in a carpool lane actually encourages pollution, because the situation leads to more congestion on the road overall. That was a common argument made against allowing hybrid cars in carpool lanes, too. But a fascinating new study last year found that the opposite was actually true: When hybrid cars were banned from carpool lanes, congestion increased. The carpool lane became 15 percent slower. Researchers speculated that the reason was safety concerns — as regular lanes became more crowded, carpool drivers slowed to make passing in and out of the lane safer.

Just as carpool lane exemptions helped get hybrids on the road, the same can be done with electric cars. Exempting EVs from tolls is an extra push, and a good idea.

Main image: Model S by Tesla

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The car’s driver was impressed at the speed given the battery’s weight. “It’s pretty good,” he said. “The same cars we run with a gas engine, 1 liter gas engines, motorcycle engines, they are about 400 pounds lighter than this one so we’re at a disadvantage with the weight, but we’re only about 3 to 4 seconds slower on your average comparable car to this.”

Electric racecars face another, related problem that doesn’t plague their conventional counterparts: range. Because the car needs lighter batteries to go fast, that means they also can go shorter distances. At full speed, the EV-X11 can only go 20 miles, or eight laps in Sonoma, before running out of juice.

But Kleenspeed founder, President and CEO Timothy Collins is optimistic on that front. “Next year nine laps, the year after ten or eleven laps,” he said, “Every year the energy density of the lithium cells will be greater.”

Mainstream car publication Motor Authority is getting excited about electric racing in its own right: “We’re no hydrocarbon snobs, and when electric racing goes mainstream, we’ll be just as inclined to watch, cover and perhaps participate in it.”

Collins is also using the EV-X11 to try out electric vehicle technology that will eventually be transferable to consumer electric cars. Kleenspeed is developing a test version of a passenger car that will be out in October. It will incorporate all of the company’s latest technology and come with a 150-mile battery pack.

Main photo credit: Kleenspeed

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The Obama Administration provides a We The People petition platform on the White House website, where it allows citizens to have some input on the ideas it wants the President to consider. With a goal of reaching 25,000 signatures by September 28th, the “Equal Incentives for Conversions” petition on the site asks that the Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicles (IRC 30D) tax incentive be available to those EV enthusiasts transforming their vehicles to plug-ins. It was created by Jack Chen of Enginer, Inc., a hybrid/plug-in converter business and states the following:

While the Federal government should continue providing Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicles (IRC 30D) tax incentives for new plug-in vehicles, they should extend the same incentives to EV / plug-in conversions. Conversions target 250M existing vehicles on the roads, can save over 40% of fuel use or no fuel at all, have a smaller carbon footprint than new car since they reuse most of the original vehicle, and cost less to buy as an incremental expense making plug-in more affordable.

The petition has only 347 signatures as of this writing, but anyone who is in support of a change to the incentives law should attach their signature to the list. You don’t need to be an EV owner or converter, just a supporter.

Currently there are no tax credits available to anyone who does their own aftermarket plug-in conversion, which makes no sense seeing as how that means there would be one less car on the road burning petroleum and producing polluting emissions. I think if the results are the same – that more people end up driving EVs because of the tax incentives – then the credit should be extended to anyone making that leap, not just those purchasing brand new, very expensive plug-in vehicles.

[via Green Car Congress and Autoblog Green]

Image Credit: r_neches/Flickr

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According to data released by PlugShare, a mobile and web application developed by Xatori which helps EV owners find charging stations, the average driver of an electric vehicle spends just $30 on charging expenses to travel 1,050 miles per month. Compare that to how much gasoline-powered car owners have to shell out to go the same distance – $105 – and it’s easy to see why EV owners love their cars.

In addition to the cash savings that EV drivers see, there is an additional benefit for the rest of us as well. By choosing an EV over a conventional automobile, each month of driving means about 360 pounds less of CO2 emissions released into our atmosphere. They are a win-win for everyone, even for those of us who can’t or won’t make the jump to electric vehicles.

While PlugShare was initially created to help drivers find a place to plug and included just 500 charging stations, it now covers 11,000 charging stations across the U.S. It currently has over 100,000 users, providing valuable – and much-needed – data about EV owner demographics and behavior. It also has determined which cities North America are the most EV-ready and not too surprisingly Portland, Oregon tops the list followed by Dallas, Nashville, San Francisco and Seattle.

“PlugShare’s success is largely thanks to the EV community at large, and we’re committed to helping provide new products and services that help engage with them,” said Xatori Founder and CEO Forrest North. “With the information we gather on charging stations and driving behaviors, we hope to inform the EV industry to continue to develop solutions that support and further the shift to electric vehicles.”

By showing the public that owning an EV can save thousands of dollars a year on fuel costs while significantly cutting emissions, the data should encourage others to jump at the chance to go electric while pushing manufactures to further develop the technology.

[Source: Domestic Fuel via Autoblog Green]

Image Credit: CoreForce/Flickr

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The Sanya Skypump, a collaboration between Urban Green Energy and General Electric, was introduced earlier this week in Barcelona at the headquarters of Cespa, an environmental services subsidiary of Ferrovial Servicios. It combines UGE’s 4K vertical wind turbine with GE’s Durastation EV charging technology in a single tower, making it an all-in-one energy generation and EV charging station. At a height of 42 feet, the vertical-axis turbine requires winds of at least 7 MPH in order to generate electricity.

“Since launching the Sanya Skypump, we have received inquiries from companies around the world that are looking to embrace sustainability,” said Nick Blitterswyk, CEO of UGE. “The Sanya Skypump is one of those rare products that enable institutions to demonstrate their commitment to the environment while providing a really useful service as well.”

This is the first of many Skypumps to be installed this year with more coming online soon at shopping malls and universities here in the U.S. and in Australia. In addition, I would think that many EV owners would be interested in having a Skypump of their own, skipping the higher electric bills that often come with grid-tied chargers. And because Urban Green Energy’s website states that the company has “designed our Sanya line for quick and easy assembly of all its components” in just two hours, are fully self-enclosed, and installation is “is far from rocket science,” it may not be too far off that EV owners can have a private Skypump right in their own backyard.

[via Autoblog Green]

Image Credit: Urban Green Energy

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Research being done by EV charger manufacturer ECOtality is showing that owners of electric vehicles spend considerably more time in stores when they are able to plug their vehicle in nearby. Looking at EV data gathered through the Department of Energy’s EV Project, ECOtality is able to study the behavior of shoppers at retail locations where the company has installed public chargers. The company has chargers installed at several retailers, including IKEA, Kohls, and Cracker Barrel.

“We are in the process of vetting information from retailers,” said ECOtality’s chief innovation officer Don Karner.

The EV Project, the largest deployment of EVs and charging stations in history, is partially paid for by a $115 million grant from the DOE and is in collaboration with several automakers as well as Idaho National Laboratory.

I am not normally one to promote consumerism and I am sure the vetted information from retailers will just be used to sell more product, but in this case I can appreciate the research. And while I don’t know if the same would be true in a town unlike mine here in Southern California by the beach, the two EV charging stations on my street are in constant use from morning till night. Seems some of my neighbors are backing up the findings of the ECOtality research.

[via SmartPlanet]

Image Credit: NCDOTcommunications/Flickr

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Due to the fact that more automakers are rushing to build electric vehicles, in combination with rising oil and gasoline prices, means that the economies of scale for lithium-ion battery manufacturing should reduce prices in the coming years. According to the study this alone would account for one-third of the projected price drop, with the balance being contributed by an influx of new battery companies, borrowed technology from electronics companies such as Apple, and refined and standardized manufacturing equipment.

The current price of lithium-ion batteries is between $500 and $600 per kilowatt hour but prices are expected to fall to $200 in 2020 and to $160 by 2025. The U.S. Department of Energy has a goal to reduce the per kilowatt hour price to $300 by 2014.

“Cheaper batteries could enable the broader adoption of electrified vehicles, potentially disrupting the transportation, power and petroleum sectors,” the study stated.

The cost of the lithium-ion batteries in a new EV is the biggest hurdle to widespread adoption of the technology. For example, just the battery packs in the new Ford Focus Electric run between $12,000 and $15,000; that’s nearly the full selling price of the base-model gasoline-powered Focus. Because of the high battery prices, the Focus Electric has a sticker price of $39,995.

If gasoline prices continue to average $3.50 per gallon and battery prices do begin to fall within projected ranges, McKinsey & Co believes that auto manufacturers will be able to build EVs that can compete on cost with their fossil-fuel burning siblings.

[via Autoblog]

Image Credit: NRMA New Cars/Flickr

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Named CryoSolplus (PDF), the new fluid is comprised of a mix of water, paraffin, and anti-freeze and is capable of absorbing two to three times more heat than air or plain water typically used for cooling. As the heat from the batteries is absorbed in the fluid, the solid paraffin droplets inside it begin to melt, storing some of that heat and then dispersing it. Once cooled down, the paraffin returns to a solid form and repeats the process. A stabilizing agent is also added to the mix to ensure that the paraffin stays evenly distributed throughout the fluid.

The fluid would only require a small storage tank as compared one needed for plain water and would eliminate the open space currently needed around batteries for air cooling circulation. Because of this, battery packs could be packed closer together under the hood, opening up additional space for more batteries and thus power. It could also prevent batteries from overheating, a common problem in EVs which significantly reduces battery longevity and storage capability. Because the batteries in electric cars are the most expensive parts to replace, technology to make them last longer and cost less would make the mass adaption of electric vehicles much easier.

Tests will begin shortly and the researchers believe that once perfected a battery coolant system based on CryoSolplus should only add 50 or 100 euros to the price of car. That’s a small price to pay for EV batteries which could last a lot longer and thus be an even more eco-friendly form of transportation.

[via Yahoo News]

Image Credit: jdiggans/Flickr

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